So by the AEU’s logic, we should ban Year 12 exams and, indeed, exams of any kind because “the test results are harmful and damaging to students who are labelled as failures”?

I suspect the AEU’s concern here is more about teachers being branded as failures. There’s nothing wrong with that. The AEU’s job is to protect the interests of teachers. But the line being pushed strikes me as disingenuous.

Their position is also rather naive. Even if the full data matrix of the NAPLAN results are released, the media will still simplify the story down to a league table. I think the AEU needs to suggest a simple-to-understand media-friendly metric which more accurately reflects the quality of a school’s education.